Content Creator for Teachers

User Research, Prototyping, Wireframes

While at Knewton, an Ed Tech company, I explored the idea of a centralized, open-source library of fantastic classroom content created and curated by teachers. This system would suggest the next best piece of content for a student, regardless of who made it.

One of the biggest challenges I faced in this design resulted from initial tests where teachers each created content with their own visual style. When given a standard WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) text editor, teachers each used different colors, fonts, text sizes and alignment to try to express various points. As a designer, I needed to find a way to ensure that all content worked together seamlessly for students who may receive it in any order.

Research

I began by interviewing 5 teachers about their experience creating new content for their classroom. I focused on understanding when teachers make new content, why they do it, and what process they use.

Next I explored multiple textbooks to understand what systems they put in place to create a cohesive story throughout their book.

Key Findings

Initial Wireframe

Workspace with clean text entry and toolbox of education features on left, and uploaded media on the right.

Extended state of the toolbox shows teachers what each tool is

Based on the findings, I created a prototype in Axure of a tool that would allow teachers to access formatting based solely on the learning feature they wanted to create. This is a massive step away from WYSIWYG text editors that exist on practically all education content websites.

Give teachers the freedom to not worry about font choices and simply state the goal allows them to focus on what they know best - the content. This also helps the students by creating a cohesive learning experience and allows the business to grow and update the visual design of all content without hand editing each piece.